


I Have A Taste For Harmony

by very



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Swimming, swimming feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/very/pseuds/very
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rin suddenly reappears in Haruka's life, the space between them is closed with a kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Have A Taste For Harmony

He doesn’t remember the meet.

There are details in isolation: the roughness of the freshly-resurfaced pool deck against his calloused feet, the drums of the cheer squad thrumming inside him like a second heartbeat, his skin gooseflesh despite the burning heat inside of him, the taste of water kept slightly too acidic sharp on his tongue.

Afterwards, Makoto had clapped a hand on his shoulder, had bumped their heads together, had given him a conciliatory speech of which Haruka had heard precisely nothing.

He’d lost. Or rather he’d come in second, which is the same thing. He’d lost the 200 metre freestyle, his signature event, by almost a whole second; he hasn’t lost since grade school.

How fitting that this too was to Rin.

* * *

It’s eight o’clock on a Tuesday night and this is Haruka’s favourite time of the week to practise. The last class of the day is the women’s physiotherapy session that ends at six pm, and they never linger long. By now the pool is nearly empty and often is. It’s not today; an old man is doing a leisurely backstroke in the far lane (completely untrained: his chin is tucked and his hips are sinking and his knees flop about ungainly; Haruka can almost hear the little sigh Makoto makes before he puts on a cheerful face and prepares to dispense some advice).

He doesn’t time himself tonight. Speed will come. Instead he focuses on his form. He was too tense today, too stiff. He hasn’t drawn a breath from the bottom of his lungs ever since he first saw Rin across the pool wearing Samezuka colours.

He can’t think of Rin now. All he needs to do is swim.

The fifteen-minute-warning chime comes too soon; can it really be a quarter to ten already? He finishes his lap, and it’s when he pulls himself out of the pool that he sees the solitary figure sitting in the bleachers.

Rin.

He stands frozen as Rin gets to his feet and walks down the bleachers. He wears a pair of baggy black trunks that come down just above his kneecaps and his hair is dry; he clearly didn’t come here to swim, or he’d have worn his jammer.

“You’ve improved,” Rin says, but it isn’t Rin. It’s not Rin’s voice, but an imitation: too deep, too husky, too dark; it’s not at all what Haruka remembers but it’s Rin, too tall and too lean with none of the roundness in his cheeks that Haruka remembers.

“Easy to say that when you’re the one who won,” Haruka says.

“You still qualified for the intramurals,” Rin says, taking the last few steps to stop before him. “But yeah,” he says, mouth curving into a grin. “I improved too.”

“What are you--” and his voice doesn’t crack but it sticks in his throat, and he has to swallow hard before continuing. “What are you doing here?”

Rin tilts his head. “Mako-chan said you liked to come here,” he says.

Something twinges inside of Haruka. “You talked to him?” he asks. Makoto hadn’t said anything to him--not that Haruka had given him the opportunity after the meet, but he could have called. He could have texted. He could have done something to say ‘oh, by the way, I’m sending Rin your way.’

“I would’ve talked to you, but you disappeared,” Rin says.

Haruka makes himself shrug. “I had to head out,” he says, which sounds lame to his own ears.

“Speaking of which, they’re going to kick us out soon, aren’t they? Let’s hit the showers,” Rin says, heading towards the changing rooms.

Haruka follows him. “Did you even get in the pool?” he asks sceptically, already knowing the answer.

Rin stops suddenly, and Haruka almost bumps into him. “Hold on a sec,” he says, whirling around and brandishing a grin. “One lap,” he says, holding up a single finger. “For old times’ sake.”

“We already--” Haruka starts, but Rin is already heading to the side of the pool.

“Just one,” Rin says, bending down to press the palms of his hands flat against the deck in a stretch before straightening back up and tossing a look over his shoulder. “Just you and me, no one else, no spectators, no officials. Just one lap.”

Haruka glances up at the clock. “Just one,” he agrees, stepping forward to take his place in the lane next to Rin.

Rin assumes the ready position, and Haruka follows suit. “On go,” Rin suggests.

“Okay,” Haruka says, and the last time they’ve done this was years ago but their voices fall perfectly in sync as they begin to count.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“Go!” they shout together, and Haruka dives.

He cuts through the water like a blade, effortlessly sharp, his body undulating powerfully with his butterfly kicks as he glides towards the surface. Automatically his body finds his rhythm and he strokes, whole body rolling, and he flies through the water. His heart pounds, and while he daren’t even think of looking to see where Rin is he doesn’t have to; he knows Rin is right beside him keeping pace and that if Haruka falters for even a moment then he’ll have lost.

The moments race by as they tear across the pool, and almost before he realises it his hands hit the wall and he kicks himself upwards, breaking the surface of the water, and next to him is Rin and they’re panting, shoulders heaving, and then Rin turns to him and he’s grinning, and Haruka’s grinning too, and Rin’s here, he’s really here, he’s back, and in this moment Haruka can almost believe Rin never left.

“This drag is killing me!” Rin’s saying, and he’s laughing. “These fricking swim trunks; I should get like a whole second off because of these damn things--”

“That’s not even remotely close to being my problem,” Haruka says, earning himself a shove from Rin, but he’s fast enough to grab Rin by the wrist and pull him forward and they splash back below the surface before they find their footing and break through to air above.

“And you,” Rin says, “you’re completely not helping,” he says, shaking his head, spraying glittering droplets of water everywhere and yet still failing to dislodge the long wet bangs plastered to his face. Rin reaches up and runs his hand over his face, slicking his bangs back instead of tucking them behind his ears, and his eyes are starkly, startlingly violet against the perfect canvas of his pale skin.

Haruka’s frozen, he’s trapped, and as the smile fades from Rin’s mouth Haruka knows he’s been caught.

He has to say something, has to be the first to break this moment or Rin will, and Haruka doesn’t know what Rin is going to say. “You came back to Japan,” he blurts out.

Rin’s eyebrows narrow almost imperceptibly. “I did,” he says quietly.

“And you didn’t--were you going to tell me? Us? The team?” Haruka asks, stumbling over the word he hadn’t meant to say and piling on others instead.

Rin breathes sharply. “I didn’t know if--you never emailed, and I thought maybe you--after what we--what I--” he breaks off and Haruka’s twelve years old again and he can taste Rin’s lemondrop on his tongue.

 _I’m going to miss you the most_ , Rin had said back then.

“But that was such a long time ago; we were just kids back then, right? I mean, wow, it’s kind of crazy the silly ideas kids get, you know?” Rin lowers his head and laughs but it’s wrong, it’s all wrong, the sound of his voice, the words in the air, and Haruka has no idea at all how to stop it or fix it.

“Ricchi,” he says, and sets his hand on Rin’s waist under the water.

Rin’s head snaps up, his gaze boring into his. “Haruka,” he says softly.

“I’m sorry,” Haruka says, making himself say the words somehow. “For back then. For not emailing you back. I just--didn’t know what to do, and I--but you’re here now, and I... I’m sorry,” he says, focusing on the one thing he needs Rin to hear.

Haruka watches as a drop of water drips along the line of Rin’s jaw, beading at his chin for only a moment before dripping down into the pool. “I was a stupid kid,” Rin says.

“So was I,” Haruka admits. “But I’m not now,” he says, taking a deep breath to steady himself, and this time it’s him who leans in to close the distance between them and to press his lips against Rin’s.

“Mmph--” Rin says, his words lost against Haruka’s mouth, and then his hands are on Haruka’s face and Rin’s kissing him back, his mouth ready and hot and this time he tastes of chlorine, not of lemon. He sets his free hand on the other side of Rin’s waist, hesitating for only a moment before wrapping his arms around him, and when their slick torsos meet the sensation is so intensely erotic that Haruka has to break the kiss to gasp.

“Haruka,” Rin breathes and then they’re kissing again, and when Haruka brushes his tongue against Rin’s lips Rin lets him, Rin parts his lips, Rin’s tongue brushes against his and Haruka can’t imagine anywhere else he’d rather be at this moment.

The intercom chimes again, the intruding sound startling them apart. “To our guests, please be aware that the pool is closing in ten minutes,” says a young woman’s voice--Takeda-san from reception, Haruka recognizes through the faint veil of static, though he’s never heard her over the intercom before.

The intercom crackles again. “And in addition, please be advised that... um, non-pool activities should be continued in a different location. Thank you,” she says before there is the loud clatter of the handset rattling on the cradle before being finally disconnected.

Non-pool activities? What does that even--

Rin takes a step backward, back hitting the side of the pool, and his eyes are so wide with guilt that Haruka can’t help the laugh that bursts forth.

Rin heaves a sigh before getting out of the pool, standing up tall. “So...” he says, watching Haruka as he pulls himself out onto the deck. “Did you... wanna do that?” he asks. “Find a different location, I mean?”

In an instant he can remember how it had felt to be pressed up against Rin, the shape of his lips under his, the taste of his mouth, and even though he bites his lips against his grin he can still feel his cheeks flushing with anticipation. Then he remembers it’s Tuesday and already practically ten and if he doesn’t catch the bus by ten thirty he won’t make it home in time for curfew and his mom won’t let him go to late swim for a month and he really can’t afford that now, not when he has a whole second to shave from his times before next meet.

“7haruka at jmail dot c-o dot j-p,” Haruka says.

Rin gives him a considering look.

“I have to get home or my mom’s gonna kill me--but mail me,” he says, and then it hits him just how meaningless that must sound to him. “Mail me, okay?” he prompts, trying not to let his desperation creep into his voice.

“Okay,” Rin says, then gives a little laugh. “We have to arrange a rematch, right?”

“And you should come over,” Haruka adds. “Mom’ll be happy to see you. You remember where I live, right? What are you doing this Saturday? --I mean, you don’t have to decide now, but just--just email me and let me know.”

“Okay,” Rin says again, but this time he lowers his gaze and smiles.


End file.
